Otakon 2011 Feedback Thread

This thread is archived.

  • Con:
    Waiting in line two hours beforehand, have the line cut off at YOU when the panel/autograph session started late in the first place. There were 5 people left in the line I was in before they started handing out tickets to those who could "return and try later" after said line has progressed. Sit there with a counter to know how many are in line/how many can actually go through within an hour before even handing out tickets or cutting the line off. Then cut off those people with the tickets/within the "ticket" line; not at those who actually took the time to get up and not have a ticket.

    Sure, soapbox much, but that seriously ruined my con experience.

  • Grey cat - I've brought the issue up with out con chair/otakorp president. If you don't mind, email me at hallcostume at otakorp dot org and let me know anything you can about the people involved (otakon staff vs bcc staff, where it happened, what they were stopping you from doing. Ie elevator access) Thanks

  • [QUOTE=Emerald_Star;4074265]Grey cat - I've brought the issue up with out con chair/otakorp president. If you don't mind, email me at hallcostume at otakorp dot org and let me know anything you can about the people involved (otakon staff vs bcc staff, where it happened, what they were stopping you from doing. Ie elevator access) Thanks[/QUOTE]

    @Emerald_Star Thank you and will do.


    If there is ANYTHING that anyone can tell me to help the case I may be opening, please let me know.

  • A few big issue that I saw.

    1 to many Elevators and Escalators not working.

    2 No sign saying what type of cooking oils that the food that the BCC was selling was cooked in.

    3 The Line for Cosplay Burlesque maybe it's time for moving this to another location say 1st Mariner.

    4 Large Photo shoots taking up way to much space in the Charles Street Entrance (Safety Issue, over heard a few BCC guards complaining about it).

  • First off, thanks for posting this, just got back from the con myself and feeling pretty tired! I'll post my feedback when I'm feeling more rested. It has been stickied. :)

  • I was kind of shocked at how RUDE people were in general. I can't even count how many times people walked in front of someone else's camera (this poor female photographer's model got hijacked by three different male photogs within five minutes, too). People don't pay attention to where they are walking and just general discourtesies. My friend and I were even flipped off by a corseted and goth'd out guy when he stepped on my costume, blazed ahead and refused to even apologize. The first time I got stepped on, the other person apologized but failed to notice that I was there in the first place.

    For crying out loud, my headdress was at least 6 inches tall right in front of your nose. HOW DO YOU NOT NOTICE THAT SOMETHING WILL POKE YOUR EYE OUT?

    Would it kill people to be a little bit more aware?

    There were also issues with the elevators at the Hilton as well.. what's with the "what goes up/down must go down/up?" idea? My friends and I were running very late for a photoshoot with a photographer located outside of the convention, and this group of people decided to pile into the elevator after hesitating for 10 seconds, blocking our way and decided to comment on the fact that we were b*tchy when it came to getting out of the elevator. Granted, I was aggravated about running late, but I said "excuse me" and would it kill them to be patient for two more minutes? Apparently not.

    Aside from that, it did seem like things did go more smoothly, and the staff less rude in general. I'm just peeved at the general lack of discourtesies and LACK OF SHOWERING.

  • Pros:
    + The following staffers/gofers: the Staffer with the pink hair at the FMA movie premiere, the Spec Ops guy who was handling the line at the movie, Beth who was a first-time gofer, TKS who was a first time Staffer. They were as nice as could be and TKS even went out of his way to accompany me around to the elevators before the concert to make sure I got to where I needed to be!
    + The speed with which Registration was handled.
    + A lot of interesting programming.

    Cons:
    - ...all that interesting programming was at or around the SAME TIME. Masquerade at the same time as the FMA movie at the same time as the Eyeshine concert? WTF? Did they not expect people to want attend more than one of these?
    - The shutting down of elevators. I understand that my handicap isn't exactly something that requires a wheelchair, but being made to take the stairs on a sprained ankle that's in an air cast because the elevator is "down"? I'm totally with those who call bull on this. Had I fallen down the stairs because it buckled on me, I'd have made sure to raise hell and wouldn't have cared if I caused a scene.
    - Having staffers during autograph sessions ask "Don't you have anything better to do than stand around in line?" Um, hello? That wasn't cute or funny or even remotely amusing. Just shut up and do your job.
    - Congoers who can't be bothered to pay attention to their surroundings. Hi! I'm on crutches! That doesn't mean you can skirt by me and kick the frigging things, or knock into them and trip me up. I need them to WALK, and unless you want to be on them next time, I suggest paying a shred more attention to what's around you! I shouldn't have to have friends walk alongside me just to keep people from slamming into me like bumper cars. And to the person who came running by and nearly tripped over them while I was sitting along the wall, you deserved it.

    All in all, though, it was fairly smooth sailing.

  • Pros:
    ~Big dealers room with lots of cool stuff. I liked that the rows were marked on the floor with street names, it made finding friends much easier
    ~The Chemistry Concert was awesome! I love Otakon because they are able to get the cool guests xD
    ~Good Q&A sessions, but the more popular ones should be put in secluded places. One time the line was taking up part of a major hallway
    ~I got over 100 Streetpass tags on my 3DS. It was so exciting.

    Cons:
    ~The overlapping of the good stuff (ie: the FMA premier overlapped with the masquerade which overlapped with the Rave). They should keep in mind the popularity of things
    ~The lack of necessary room clears. I asked early on about the lack of room clears between the AMVs and the FMA premier. The staff person said because there wasn't one people in the AMVs could just stay in their seats. Me and my friend then planned to go see the AMVs and then the premier, but nearly 2 hours before the premier they closed the AMV room to new people because the line was already so huge. The lack of planning for the FMA premier made me mad. Seating was terrible because of the people who stayed after the AMVs, and everyone was generally miserable from the line (also, the fact that the schedule only planned for the movie itself, not the seating or people talking beforehand was kinda dumb. I didn't know what time to give my ride to the hotel because the movie started so much later than the schedule said)
    ~The surprising lack of water stations. I only saw a few here and there, forcing us to either search for a water fountain or buy the $3 water bottles.
    ~Angry BCC staff. Yes, we're upset about the lack of turned on escalators. Yes, we don't quite understand that both directions of traffic have to go on the same stairs for the artist's alley until we're on the stairs. No need to cuss at us.
    ~General BO. I had to hold my breath at the Chemistry concert whenever the guy next to me raised his arm at all. Please people, you may not think showering is necessary but the rest of us do.
    ~The lack of organization in the schedule. I went to a panel on Sunday that was supposed to have all the voice actor guests there, but apparently they were given the wrong time on their panels sheet and only 2 of them showed up. That's bad when the guests are given wrong information.

    I know the cons seem to outweigh the pros, but the general experience of the convention really made me happy. This was my second Otakon and I definitely plan to go again, all negatives aside.

  • [QUOTE=TortureBunni;4073962]Honestly, I felt that this year went SO much more smoothly than last year. The staff were MUCH more polite and well-informed, and areas were well-marked. I especially liked that there was someone directing people to Artist's Alley and the Dealer's Room. The Pre-Reg line, while long, moved quickly, which was essential in the intense heat.

    I'm not sure what the attendance was compared to last year, but it seemed that there was more room to move around the convention center, which was great. There also seemed to be less people screaming obnoxious memes.

    There were a lot of homeless people lpan-handling outside of the convention center, and while I don't think that it is the responsibility of Otakon security to handle it, maybe having some convention center security gaurds or even police officers around could help alieviate the problem.

    The only thing I was dissapointed with was the Matsuri. I was expecting to see more traditional dances, and maybe some Taiko drummers, or even some tradional Japanse festival games. The very few booths that they actually had were dissapointing, and the musical artists were obnoxiously loud. I understand that this was the first year doing the Matsuri, so some hiccups were understandable.

    This was really the "make it or break it" year for me, after last year's Otakon had so many issues. I was pleasantly surprised at how smoothly everything went, and look forward to attending next year.[/QUOTE]

    As far as the panhandling that is just something that you have to deal with in Baltimore. Regular security guards usually don't have outside authority, the police are too busy, and panhandling in Baltimore is not illegal unless it is aggressive, done to people in their vehicles, or very close to an ATM. You are right when you say this is not Otakon's responsibility, but no one else is going to do anything about it either.

  • Pros ~
    Really amazing staff, especially at pre-reg pick up. It was SO FAST this year! Everyone involved did a great job!
    Having the AMV contest twice. It's such a big event, I'm glad it was held twice. It made it much easier to get to.
    General organization Things seemed much more well put together than they have many years in the past. The events I went to all seemed to go off without a hitch.

    Cons ~
    People pretending to be staff. I got stopped twice by people without staff badges/shirts, claiming to be staff, and asking to see my badge and my weapon. One of them was EXTREMELY rude and condescending to me. I don't know if this person was staff or not, but it was one of the most unpleasant experiences I had this year.

    Poor scheduling choices. The fashion shows, the premieres, big-name signings, the amv contest and the masq all seemed to be more or less scheduled on top of each other. I understand that at some point, as you add more big events there's nothing you can do about this and although I know it's failed in the past, the only solution I can see if extending the con another day.

    Convention layout. Otakon seems to always be experimenting with this.. and it never seems to work. It didn't make any sense to me why I had to walk around the block outside in the heat or through both buildings, and around back to he first to get into the dealers room. I just don't get it. Going to the dealers room/AA was a major trek, and it made me not want to go.
    I timed it and for us, to go from the Dealers room to the AA took about 25 minutes. We shouldn't have had to left the entire building and walked up the sidewalk to get to the place we were standing 5 feet next to when we exited the dealers room.

    General rude behavior. My large gun was actually broken because so many people just smacked right into it. I basically was a walking apology with the thing because I knew it was large and takes up space - but people would just barge into me. When I was Tali, my helmet is rather dark and it's not the easiest thing to see out of and I almost got trampled a couple times, despite being helped by a friend the whole day.

  • I had a really great time, and now that I'm down from my con high I can review the event more easily.

    Pros:
    - Amazing costumes everywhere!
    - Maps
    - FREE WATER IN DEALERS ROOM AND ARTIST ALLEY. I can't tell you how amazing this was, it was very good planning to have that there.
    - Free sunscreen at the funimation booth, great promotion as well as useful in the Baltimore heat!
    - Dealers room had a lot of awesome stuff, I got some beautiful artwork from Rumiko Takahashi as well as an inexpensive full color cell from some guys in the back.
    - KPOP booth, once I finally found it I was super happy.
    -The rave was awesome, but they changed the songs too fast! (at least when I first got there.)
    - Even when they kept me from taking more convenient routes, the security staff was pretty pleasant the whole time and very nice.
    -Credit card apps for Iphone in the Artist's Alley.
    -The Macross Photo shoot, I'm happy to have made some friends there and that the photographer gave us his website!


    Cons:
    -Escalators being turned off. Especially in the Artist's Alley entrance, we had only one extremely narrow staircase for entrance and exist, and that just seems like a recipe for disaster.
    -Lines, but what can you do?
    -The FMA line was HUGELY disorganized, I had no idea where the end was because it was just a giant mob of people with no order. My friends and I ended up skipping it to go eat.
    - A lot of entrances/exists were closed off. I'm sure they had their reasons but sometimes it seemed silly and pointless to have certain areas closed.
    - Panhandling. I'm used to it in NYC, but there was a huge amount outside. I probably noticed moreso since I went outside to take shortcuts places a lot though.





    I'll probably think of more stuff later. Overall I had an awesome time at my first Otakon and I will be going again next year :)

  • PROS
    -Reg line was great, walked right up, and the staff there was nice.
    -lots of water stations, which stayed pretty well stocked
    -BCC staff were all friendly and helpful, in contrast with last year.

    CONS
    -Rude and/or incompetent Otakon staff members. The vast majority of staff I encountered this weekend were awful. We would get conflicting information, staff just plain not knowing information, and exits and entrances seemed to change from Friday to Saturday. Most of these were Artist Alley/Art Show and surrounding staff.

    -elevators/escalators being shut down or entrances/exits being closed. We worked AA, so loading in and out was way more of a hassle then it should have been. But thank you to the one staff member that was nice enough to actually offer to help us load out instead of yelling that we needed to leave when we couldn't find the right exit.

    -The bathrooms at night were horrifying. Filthy, no toilet paper, and roaches and flies everywhere. Do they not have night staff?

    -A cluster of staff in some areas that didn't need it, and no staff in other, larger areas.

    -No day passes. Why not?

    Sorry, but I had a bad experience this year. Not sure if we'll be back. I think Otakon is doing themselves a disservice by not paying staff for a con that big.

  • ...

  • Move the goddamn Bad Anime Bad panel to a bigger room!!! This is the 3rd year I have tried and failed to make it into that one. They KNOW it's a popular one and it always fills up prematurely. They sent probably 100 people away this year. There are rooms large enough to accommodate it right next to the one they stuck it into! I don't know who to yell at about this but I want to find them >: (

  • Yea. Organization just sucked in general. But that's a usual thing. The escalators not working half the time pissed me off too, and I generally like using stairs. And the fact that the dealer's room opened and closed at really stupid times sucked.

    Scheduling was super retarded. Way to have everything a person wants to go to at the exact same time, but absolutely nothing interesting during the entire day beforehand. :\

    People lining up over two hours early for panels is also kind of ridiculous. I think this is just due to overcrowding. That's the only way you're going to get into things, but for other people that have stuff to do two hours ahead of time get screwed.

    Seriously, I think Otakon needs to put a cap on registration. There's not enough room in the BCC for all those people. Serious fire hazard. Not to mention it became so freaking hot we almost passed out a few times just walking around the building. We started making huge detours to avoid the skybridge between the two buildings of the BCC because it was so crowded we were stuck in there for a good 15 minutes once. But I think this also had to do with the jerks that didn't want to use the "stay on the right hand side so the other direction can get through" rule that we all generally use.

    People were really inconsiderate and rude. On Friday I had a sword strapped across my lower back, and literally every five minutes somebody would shove past me from behind, causing me to practically spin like a turnstyle. Like.. wtf people? I wasn't even walking slowly. Can you not FEEL the resistance? I started having to grip my sword with one hand to keep it from being ripped off, and if somebody tried to force their way past my sword, I slammed it back into them. :D

    The only good thing I can say about Otakon itself, was that the pre-reg line to get badges went really quickly. Everything else good that happened was due to the people I was with. I'm starting to think Otakon isn't worth all the money I put into it, and I should just go to smaller cons where I'll actually be able to walk safely/go to panels/breathe.